It Came upon a Midnight Clear in Tonic Solfa
It Came upon a Midnight Clear in Tonic Solfa: the solfa line by line with the words, staff notation, all 5 verses, and a piano to sing along with.
- Key
- Bb major
- Doh
- Bb
- Time
- 6/8
- Starts on
- s (F)
- Range
- m to m' (D to D, an octave)
- Tune
- CAROL
- Words
- Edmund Hamilton Sears
- Music
- Richard Storrs Willis
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune CAROL by Richard Storrs Willis (1819–1900); words by Edmund Hamilton Sears (1810–1876). Sources and licences.
The solfa with the words
| sIt | m'came-tup-r'ond'_lthe | smid--lnightsclear,-sThat | lglor-t_d'iousd'songr'_m'of | r'old,----sFrom |
| m'an--tgelsr'bend-d'_ling | snear-lthesearth,-sTo | ltouch-ltheirtharpsl_sof | d'gold;----m'"Peace |
| m'on-mthemearth,fe_segood | lwill-ttod'men,-m'From | r'Heav-d'en'stalllgra-t_lcious | sKing."----sThe |
| m'world-tinr'so-d'_llemn | sstill--lnessslay,-sTo | lhear-lthetan-l_sgels | d'sing.---- |
The solfa line by line
The same solfa as plain text, a line of the hymn at a time, with the words of the first verse under it — easy to copy into your own notes or a WhatsApp message to the choir.
Doh is Bb · 6/8
Staff notation
The melody on the treble staff in Bb major, with the first verse under the notes.
The staff is drawn here when you scroll to it.
The words
It came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold;
"Peace on the earth, good will to men,
From Heaven's all gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.
Still through the cloven skies they come
With peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heavenly music floats
O'er all the weary world;
Above its sad and lowly plains,
They bend on hov'ring wing,
And ever over its
Babel sounds The blessèd angels sing.
Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love—song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife
And hear the angels sing.
And ye, beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
And hear the angels sing!
For lo! the days are hast'ning on,
By prophet—bards foretold,
When with the ever circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,
And the whole world send back the song
Which now the angels sing.
How to sing it from the solfa
- Find doh first. Play or hum Bb and sing d r m f s up from it, so the whole choir has the key in their ears before you start.
- Pitch the first note. The tune starts on s (F), on the word “It”, as a pickup before the first full bar.
- Count the time. 6/8 means two dotted-crotchet beats (six quavers) in each bar. In the grid every cell is half a crotchet: a dash (–) holds the note before it, and _ is a rest.
- Know the notes. The tune uses d r m s l t and the chromatic fe se. A comma after a note (s,) is the octave below; an apostrophe (d') is the octave above.
New to solfa? Read how to read Tonic Solfa and how to find the doh of a song.
About the hymn
The words are by Edmund Hamilton Sears, first published in 1849. The tune, CAROL, is by Richard Storrs Willis (1861). This version of the melody and the words comes from the Open Hymnal Project.
- Words (1849): Edmund Hamilton Sears (1810–1876)
- Music (1861): Richard Storrs Willis (1819–1900)
Melody and words from the Open Hymnal Project (public domain), edited by Brian J. Dumont; tune CAROL by Richard Storrs Willis (1819–1900); words by Edmund Hamilton Sears (1810–1876). The Open Hymnal Project publishes this hymn as public domain; NoteFusion's engine wrote the solfa from its notes. The melody has not yet been checked against a printed hymn book.
Questions about It Came upon a Midnight Clear
What is the doh of It Came upon a Midnight Clear?
In this version, in Bb major, doh is Bb. If your choir sings it in another key, doh moves to the new key note and every solfa syllable stays the same — that is what movable doh means.
What note does It Came upon a Midnight Clear start on?
It starts on s (F in Bb major), a pickup on the word “It” before the first full bar. Find doh first, then sing up or down to s.
Is It Came upon a Midnight Clear in the public domain?
Yes. Edmund Hamilton Sears died in 1876, Richard Storrs Willis died in 1900; the words were first published in 1849 and the music in 1861. Everyone named died before 1955 and both were published before 1929, so the hymn is out of copyright in Nigeria, the UK, the EU and the United States. Modern arrangements and translations can still be under copyright.